This disclosure relates to a gas turbine engine that includes anti-vortex features. In particular, the anti-vortex features are arranged within a cavity between discs in a compressor section, for example.
A gas turbine engine includes components for channeling air flow through the gas turbine engine along a desired flow path. Conditioning air along the flow path extracts heat from portions of the gas turbine engine to maintain desired operating temperatures. For example, thermal gradients and clearances are controlled in a compressor section of the gas turbine engine to ensure reliable performance and efficiency within the compressor section.
Typically, anti-vortex tubes have been used to provide a radial inflow of conditioning air through a compressor rotor drum between rotor discs. The anti-vortex tubes are arranged within a cavity that is provided axially between a pair or rotor discs. The anti-vortex tubes are circumferentially spaced from one another and are used to prevent vortices within the cavity that would reduce the radial inflow of conditioning air. The tubes often extend the full height of the cavity to suppress the vortexing of conditioning air, which reduces the pressure drop across the cavity making it easier to achieve desired radial inflow of conditioning air. However, the long anti-vortex tubes can also inhibit heat transfer from the discs by suppressing the natural tendency of the air to generate a swirl as it moves radially inwardly. The swirl of air within the cavity increases convection heat exchange of the rotor discs. The typically long anti-vortex tubes reduce the relative velocity of the conditioning air on the disc, thus reducing the heat transfer coefficient. Moreover, some or all of the air flow passes through the tubes to further reduce the heat transfer by reducing the mass flow of conditioning air the discs are exposed to.
A heat exchange arrangement is needed in the compressor rotor drum that provides the desired inflow of conditioning air while achieving sufficient heat transfer on the discs with minimal pressure drop for downstream applications of conditioning air. High heat transfer on the discs is desirable to augment bore and web thermal response for managing disc thermal gradient and life of critical rotating parts. Additionally high heat transfer rates improve time constant of the discs for improved clearance control between rotating and static structure where blade tip and stator tip clearances are critical for performance and operability.